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Hegel's Conception of the History of Philosophy by Zeyad El Nabolsy, B.Eng

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Hegel's Conception of the History of Philosophy by Zeyad El Nabolsy, B.Eng HEGEL'S CONCEPTION OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY i M.A. Thesis - Z. El Nabolsy; McMaster University - Department of Philosophy HEGEL'S CONCEPTION OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY BY ZEYAD EL NABOLSY, B.ENG A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts McMaster University © Copyright by Zeyad el Nabolsy, September 2017 ii M.A. Thesis - Z. El Nabolsy; McMaster University - Department of Philosophy McMaster University MASTER OF ARTS (2017) Hamilton, Ontario (Philosophy) TITLE: Hegel's Conception of the History of Philosophy AUTHOR: Zeyad El Nabolsy, B.Eng (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Professor Sandra Lapointe NUMBER OF PAGES: viii, 160 iii M.A. Thesis - Z. El Nabolsy; McMaster University - Department of Philosophy Lay Abstract: In this thesis I attempt to fill in a gap in Anglophone scholarship on Hegel by presenting an account of a much neglected aspect of Hegel's system, namely, Hegel's account and conception of the history of philosophy. I begin by attempting to dispel some misunderstandings that have distorted the Anglophone reception of this aspect of Hegel's thought, and by emphasizing the importance of understanding Hegel's views on the history of philosophy if one wishes to understand later developments in the historiography of philosophy. I then present the principles by which Hegel evaluates development in the history of philosophy, and I attempt to attenuate some of the tension which seems to exist between Hegel's methodological prescriptions and his actual practice as a historian of philosophy. I conclude with an account of Hegel's views on continuity in the history of philosophy, and their relation to contemporary views on continuity in the history of philosophy. iv M.A. Thesis - Z. El Nabolsy; McMaster University - Department of Philosophy Abstract: The main aim of this thesis is to present an account of Hegel's conception of the history of philosophy and to demonstrate its relevance to contemporary issues in the methodology of the history of philosophy both insofar as Hegel still has interesting things to say to contemporary historians, and insofar as an understanding of Hegel's views helps us understand later developments in the historiography of philosophy. In the first chapter, I present the conceptual scaffolding which enables us to compare Hegel's conception of the history of philosophy with contemporary approaches to the history of philosophy. I also criticize some of the myths that have developed around Hegel's conception of the history of philosophy. In the second chapter, I present the principles that constitute Hegel's evaluative framework: coherence or non-contradiction (in relation to the concept of Aufhebung), concreteness, systematicity, autonomy, and the use of clear conceptual language in philosophical discourse. Aside from these formal principles, I also identify a substantive philosophical thesis which Hegel seems to use in order to evaluate development in the history of philosophy, namely, the identity of thought and being. In the third chapter I attempt to attenuate the tension that exists between Hegel's methodological prescriptions, especially the claim that we should be on guard against anachronistic readings and that critique should be internal, with the manner in which he seems to consistently read past philosophers through his own system. I suggest two perspectives which can help attenuate this tension. First, I emphasize that Hegel is trying to write an anti-individualistic history of philosophy, where philosophical systems are presented as public culture achievements and the individual idiosyncrasies of philosophers are suppressed. Second, I show how Hegel's semantic and epistemic holism helps us make sense of the way that he approaches the history of philosophy. In the fourth and final chapter I discuss Hegel's conception of the relationship between philosophy and its socio-cultural milieu, and based on this discussion, I show that Hegel did not think that there is continuity in the kinds of problems that philosophers have been interested in, and that he thought that the main purpose of the history of philosophy is to provide metaphilosophical reconstructions and justifications of shifts in the kinds of problems that philosophers have been interested in. v M.A. Thesis - Z. El Nabolsy; McMaster University - Department of Philosophy Acknowledgements I wish to thank everyone who has provided me with support, both academic and emotional, while writing this thesis. In particular, I wish to thank Prof. Sandra Lapointe for her incisive feedback, her willingness to offer professional advice, and her generosity with her time. I also wish to thank Prof. Brigitte Sassen for her helpful comments and support. I am also grateful for having had the chance to study at the Department of Philosophy at McMaster University. Since I have started studying here, I have encountered nothing but kindness and support from administrative staff, faculty, and fellow graduate students. Finally, I wish to thank my family for their unfailing support and their kindness. In particular, I wish to thank Simba for his generous friendship and his tolerance for my failings. vi M.A. Thesis - Z. El Nabolsy; McMaster University - Department of Philosophy Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: The Aims of Hegel's Account of the History of Philosophy and the Historical Significance of Hegel's Historical Work......................................................................8 Section 1.1: Necessary Scaffolding for the Exposition of Hegel's Account of the History of Philosophy.....................................................................8 Subsection 1.1.1: The Concept of Development and the Concept of Progress....................................................................................8 Subsection 1.1.2: Two Types of Evaluative Frameworks in the Construction of Narratives in the History of Philosophy........11 Section 1.2: Debunking Some Myths about Hegel's Conception of the History of Philosophy: Understanding Hegel's Motivations and his Significance as a Historian of Philosophy...............................................................14 Subsection 1.2.1: Hegel's Account of the History of Philosophy as a Defence of Philosophy............................................................16 Subsection 1.2.2: Hegel the Historian as a Rectifier of Myths...........25 Subsection 1.2.3: Hegel's Attitude towards Anachronism in Writing the History of Philosophy..............................................................32 Subsection 1.2.4. Hegel's Role as the Founder of the History of Philosophy as Sub-Field of Modern Academic Philosophy.......................39 Chapter 2: The Elements that Comprise Hegel's Evaluative Framework....................41 Section 2.1: The Aufhebung of Contradictions................................................41 Section 2.2: Concreteness as a Principle..........................................................46 Section 2.3: The Principle of Systematicity.....................................................52 Section 2.4: The Principle of Autonomy..........................................................60 Section 2.5: Conceptual Language as the Proper Medium for Philosophical Discourse...........................................................................................69 Section 2.6: The Substantial Component in Hegel's Framework: The Identity of Thought and Being as the "Fundamental Idea" of Philosophy...........76 Appendix to Section 2.3.................................................................................................84 vii M.A. Thesis - Z. El Nabolsy; McMaster University - Department of Philosophy Chapter 3: Attenuating the Tension between Hegel's Historiographic Strictures and his Historiographical Practice..............................................................................................93 Subsection 3.1: Hegel's Conception of the Relationship between his Philosophical System and the History of Philosophy: Narrating the History of Philosophy from an anti-Individualistic Standpoint..............................93 Subsection 3.2: Hegel's Holism and its Significance for Understanding his Approach as a Historian.........................................................................102 Chapter 4: Hegel's Account of Philosophy's Relation to Human Culture and his Conception of Continuity in the History of Philosophy.................................................115 Subsection 4.1: Hegel's Views on Discontinuity in the History of Philosophy and the Explanation of Discontinuities....................................................115 Subsection 4.2. The Metaphilosophical Role of the History of Philosophy.......124 Bibliography....................................................................................................................139 viii Introduction: In this thesis I aim to provide an account of some of the main features of Hegel's conception of the history of philosophy, which despite the recent renaissance in Hegel scholarship in the Anglophone world still remains largely neglected. As Vittorio Hösle has noted, "Hegel's philosophy of the history of philosophy probably can be regarded as the part of his system most neglected today in the Anglo-Saxon World" (Hösle 2003, 185). While my main aim is to attempt to fill in this lacuna in Anglophone
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